1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to an installation unit for sanitary fixtures in particular in the form of WC (water closet), washstand, bathtub, shower, bidet, urinal and the like.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In accordance with customary installation techniques, sanitary fixtures are directly mounted on a room wall, on forewall constructions andxe2x80x94insofar as one concerned with bathtubs and shower tubsxe2x80x94in room corners. In practice, this frequently leads to a situation in which an ideal exploitation of the space is not possible as a result of the actual circumstances of the room, in which problems basically arise in small rooms with respect to the accommodation of the sanitary fixtures which are absolutely necessary and generally in that the design possibilities for sanitary rooms leave something to be desired.
The object of the invention is thus to provide an installation unit which provides a high degree of freedom with respect to the scope for design given to architects and planners, while departing from the known installation of sanitary fixtures in a sequential manner along the walls of the room, and also permits an ideal exploitation of even very small spaces, permits a reduction and simplification of the conventional installation times and also a lowering of the building costs and enables a gain in living area as a result of the freedom of design which is provided.
This object is satisfied in accordance with a first embodiment by a central carrying column having at least two connection regions with a planar, angled and/or curved attachment surface which extend at an angle to one another or parallel to one another, and which are in particular diametrically offset relative to one another, and also, in accordance with a second embodiment, by at least one foundation which can be secured at the floor side and onto which at least two vertically extending module carriers are attached and with at least one functional module which can be coupled in shape-matched and/or force transmitting manner to the module carriers and forms a stable assembly together with the foundation and the module carriers.
Through this basic conception, a multivalent, compact sanitary column is obtained which enables the reception of a plurality of sanitary fixtures in different combinations and which is variable with respect to its location and can accordingly be installed both on a wall or also in a corner of a room as well as free-standing in the room.
The functional modules consist preferably of a WC flushing unit and/or of a washstand connection unit and/or of connection units for tub or shower fittings and/or of a tube module and they have at least in part a polygonal, in particular triangular, peripheral contour, with the carrying elements of the functional modules being formed as hollow sections and preferably being arranged in corner regions of these functional modules.
Of significance for the central carrying column formed in accordance with the invention is the fact that a storage container for the WC is integrated into a part region of the inner space or of the inner spaces of the overall column, has a more compact shape in comparison to the customary storage containers of parallelepiped shape and preferably has a tubular, triangular shape or a shape generally matched to the inner contour of the respective receiving space. The reduction in volume in comparison to customary flushing systems of parallelopiped shape results, amongst other things, also from the fact that as a result of the shaping and of the arrangement of functional elements above one another one can operate in the storage container with a reduced air volume above the maximum water level.
The further inner spaces or shafts in the carrying column can be used to accommodate supply and disposal lines and also for the line guidance to the individual sanitary fixtures.
The carrying column itself is preferably decoupled with respect to structure-borne noise throughout in a manner which is independent of later workers and which necessarily enters into effect when installation is completed; i.e. the erection, the attachments and the connection of all elements, fittings and lines takes place in a manner decoupled with respect to structure-borne noise.
As a result of the predeterminable position of the mounting surfaces for the sanitary fixtures on the carrying column, pleasantly shaped, space-saving arrangements can be achieved both with respect to the desired layout and also with respect to the utilization of space since it is possible in accordance with the invention to equip the carrying column with attachment surfaces distributed around it in problem-free manner so that two or three sanitary fixtures and even four sanitary fixtures, with free-standing installation of the carrying column in space, can be mounted as desired, and indeed not only at a right angle to one another but also at a correspondingly changed angle when correspondingly utilizing an obliquely extending attachment surface.
The part units of the carrying column associated with the individual sanitary fixtures can not only be individually put together to form the total column and connected together, but rather they can also have different height which is of advantage for the practical use and also for the design aspect.
When the carrying column is designed in a skeletal manner of construction provision is made for the column to be capable of being clad without problem with a tile carrier, and any desired building materials such as construction boards, composite materials or porous concrete can be considered and naturally also a cladding with plates of marble, plastic, wood, glass and all other suitable materials can take place.
If expedient for reasons of adaptation to different room heights or also for design reasons, the carrying column can also be designed to be of variable height as a whole or in some regions, for which purpose the frame of the carrying column, which is for example built up of square tubes, can be made telescopic and latchable.
In connection with new buildings in particular it is also possible to make the central carrying column extend continuously over a plurality of stories, with the carrier column being exploited in a story-bridging manner for the guidance of supply and disposal lines of all kinds. In this arrangement the carrying column is secured in a manner decoupled with respect to structure-borne noise in the respective story break-through.
Through the design of the foundations and of the module carriers associated with them, it is possible to install the functional modules accurately in position in an extremely simple manner in that the functional modules are plugged onto the module carriers and are at least fixed in force transmitting manner. In this way, a stable assembly is provided through the cooperation of the foundation, module carriers and functional modules which in the totality of the installation unit can also be rigidified by stabilizing elements such as struts, tensioning cables and the like, which can be coupled to the hollow sections of the functional modules and which permit the functional modules to be connected to one another and/or to a wall. Finally, at least the WC functional module is additionally designed such that it can itself be connected to the respectively adjoining wall.
The module carriers provided on the foundations can have different height, whereby an adaptation to the installation circumstances, i.e. to the different height dimensions of functional modules, is possible. In order to increase the variability of the overall arrangement the module carriers can be adjustably attached to the respective foundation.
The foundations preferably consist of straight and/or curved or aerially formed foundation elements which are in particular fixable relative to one another at predeterminable angles, so that all circumstances which arise in practice can also be taken into account.
Further advantageous embodiments and special features of the invention will be set forth in the following with reference to embodiments and will be explained in more detail with reference to the drawings.
In one embodiment, an installation unit for sanitary fixtures, in particular in the form of WC, washstand, bathtub, shower, bidet, urinal, pipes and the like, is provided. The installation unit comprises at least one foundation which can be secured at the floor side onto which at least two vertically extending module carriers are attached and with at least one functional module which can be coupled in shape-matched and/or force transmitting manner to the module carriers and forms a stable assembly together with the foundation and the module carriers. The functional modules have, at least in part, a polygonal and in particular triangular peripheral contour and the carrying elements of the functional modules are formed as hollow sections and are preferably arranged in the corner regions of the functional modules. The hollow sections can be coupled to the module carriers via shape-matched and/or force transmitting plug-in/clamping connections and can preferably be attached to the module carriers so that their spacing to the foundation is adjustable. For the formation of the installation unit or a carrying column, a foundation with two straight foundation elements extending at an acute angle, in particular at an angle of 45xc2x0, is provided and is coupled via their system carriers to a plurality of functional modules, with a functional module being arranged in the acute angled corner region between the two foundation elements and being connected to system carriers of both foundation elements.